Eddie and Aggie sittin' in a tree . . .

We've had a couple of major award banquets this week - The Edgars and The Agathas.

I listed all the nominees a few weeks ago - today I offer my congratulations to all the nominees again, 

Today, I'm honored to announce the winners - - - 

The Edgars^® were announced at the 65th Gala Banquet in New York City on April 28th, 2011 

Grand Master - Sara Paretsky

 

Best Novel -

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books)

Best First Novel -

 Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Tom Doherty Associates - Forge Books)

Best Paperback Original

Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard (Random House - Bantam)

Best Fact Crime

Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska Press - Bison Original)

Best Critical Biographical

Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang (W.W. Norton)

Best Short Story

"The Scent of Lilacs" - Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Doug Allyn (Dell Magazines)

Best Juvenile

The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman & Co.)

Young Adult

The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price (Farrar, Straus, Giroux Books for Young Readers)

Play

The Psychic by Sam Bobrick (Falcon Theatre - Burbank, CA)

TV Episode

"Episode 1" - Luther, Teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)

Robert L. Fish Memorial

"Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man" - Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
by Evan Lewis (Dell Magazines) 

Mary Higgins Clark

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Raven 

Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, Chicago, IL
Once Upon a Crime Bookstore, Minneapolis, MN  

 

The Agathas were announced at the Malice Domestic banquet in Bethesda, MD on April 30, 2010

Guest of Honor - Carole Nelson Douglas 

Best Novel -  

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. (This was Louise's fourth Agatha in a row)

Best Nonfiction -  

Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran

Best Children's/Young Adult -  

The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith

Best First Mystery Novel -  

The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames

Best Short Story - "So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - Sept./Oct. 2010
 

Poirot Award - Janet Rudolph of Mystery Readers' International

CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYONE!!!!

The Passing of a Great Talent - Ernie Barnes

I was going to post something about the Edgars today. The Edgars are, after all, a very big deal in the mystery world and deserve to be celebrated and honored. So I started browsing around the internet to see what everyone else had to say and it occurred to me that I didn't have a thing to say about the Edgars that hadn't already been said. And since most of what was interesting had been said by people who were actually there, then what was the point in my adding my two cents? Especially since it would be me rehashing what already been said, and said well. And as usual - Sarah Weinman says it all best in her "Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind."

Anyone who is interested already knows who won, and if they have an opinion, they've already shared it. The list of winners can be found at the MWA Edgar webpage, and I offer each of them my sincerest congratulations. And to those names on the list who did not win the coveted award this year - I'm betting we'll see many of them back in years to come.


What I did run across during my browsing that I found to be of interest, other than the Edgar winners, also saddened me. Included in my list of favorite blogs is The Crime Sistahs. The women who make up The Crime Sistahs are Angela Henry, Patricia Sargeant, Gammy L. Singer, and Persia Walker.

I first became aware of Persia Walker at the Baltimore Bouchercon last year. I sat in on a panel session my friend Mary Jane Maffini was participating in - “Otherside: Keeping it Plausible." I wrote this in my Wednesday, October 15, 2008 blog - Bouchercon 2008 - My First B'Con -
"Another Saturday panel I attended was William Kent Krueger moderating Judy Clemens, Mary Jane Maffini, Kit Sloane, and Persia Walker on “Otherside: Keeping it Plausible” Loved this one too (why, of course), and was blown away by Ms. Persia Walker who I was not familiar with. I found this young woman to be major impressive and am quite excited about discovering this bright talent."

Since then, I have read Ms. Walker's Harlem Redux and Darkness and the Devil Behind Me. And I recommend them both quite highly. If you haven't discovered Ms. Walker yet, you're in for a treat. And if she's an indicator of the talent included in the Crime Sistahs Blogspot, then there is yet more talent for me to discover and enjoy.

But that's not what I came here to talk about today. Let me meander back to the subject at hand . . .

being sad.

What made me sad at The Crime Sistahs Blogspot was learning that Ernie Barnes had died. Immeasurably sad. I don't know if you're familiar with Ernie Barnes' art and murals - however, you might be even if you aren't aware of it.

Do you remember watching the old TV show Good Times? Do you remember that the character JJ became, as the show went on, a bit of an artist? That wonderful work shown as JJ's was, in fact, Ernie Barnes' work. And I love it. And I am saddened that there will be no more.


Enjoy these few and say a little prayer for Mr. Barnes and his lasting talent.

Sugar Shack




Solid Rock Congregation



Singin' Sistahs



Anniversary



Room Full A'Sistahs



The Maestro

Obituary here